What is bone marrow transplant?

Bone marrow transplant patients usually go to medical centers, or hospitals, that specialize in this treatment. Most times the patient will stay in a bone marrow transplant unit in the center to limit their chance of getting an infection.

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Stem cell transplant

Bone marrow transplant

A bone marrow transplant delivers healthy bone marrow stem cells into the patient. It replaces bone marrow that is either not working properly or has been destroyed (ablated) by chemotherapy or radiation.

Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy

To evaluate the type, quantity, and maturity levels of the blood cells present in the marrow, to evaluate the fibrous structure of the marrow, and sometimes to collect a sample of marrow for more specific testing

Bone Marrow Biopsy

Bone marrow is the spongy material found in the center of most large bones in the body. The different cells that make up blood are made in the bone marrow. Bone marrow produces red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Along with a biopsy (the sampling of mostly solid tissue or bone), an aspiration (the sampling of mostly liquid) is often done at the same time. Why the procedure is performed: A bone marrow aspiration and biopsy procedure is done for many reasons. The test allows the doctor to evaluate your bone marrow function. It may aid in the diagnosis of low numbers of red blood cells (anemia), low numbers of white blood cells (leukopenia), or low numbers of platelets (thrombocytopenia), or a high number of these types of blood cells. The doctor can also determine the cause of some infections, diagnose tumors, determine how far a disease, such as lymphoma, has progressed, and evaluate the effectiveness of chemotherapy or other bone marrow active drugs. Where the procedure is performed: Bone marrow aspirations and biopsies can be performed in doctor's offices, outpatient clinics, and hospitals. The procedure itself takes 10-20 minutes.

Bone marrow or stem cell transplant may be recommended for:Certain cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma ; Illnesses where the bone marrow does not produce the right kind of or enough cells. Some of these are: Sickle cell anemia ; Aplastic anemia; Thalassemia ; Dongenital neutropenia ; Severe immunodeficiency syndromes; Rescue transplant to replace bone marrow, when treatment for cancer has destroyed a patient's bone marrow

How well you do after transplant greatly depends on these things:What type of bone marrow transplant you had; How well your donor's cells match yours; What type of cancer or illness you have; Your age and overall health; What type of chemotherapy or radiation therapy you had before your transplant; What kind of complications happened after the transplant; Your genetic make-up

All bone marrow transplants have risks. The risk is higher or lower depending on many factors. Some of these factors are:What disease you have; What type of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation) you have before the bone marrow transplant; How old you are; How healthy you are when you have your transplant; How good a match your donor is; What type of bone marrow transplant patient you are having (autologous, allogeneic, or umbilical cord blood); Infections: these may be very serious.; Bleeding:...